Matrix New World expands 3D laser surveying services

Florham Park, N.J. — Matrix New World Engineering PC is solidifying its position as a full-service industry leader by expanding it high-definition surveying services for its broad spectrum of clients.

High-definition surveying – often called 3D laser surveying or 3D scanning – is the newest industry standard for making precise measurements that can rapidly be turned into computer models, engineering or architectural drawings, or survey documents.

Matrix now has five survey teams skilled in laser scanning technologies and software, and able to gather precise data essential to create high-quality 3D models customized to fit virtually any clients’ need.

“This gives Matrix a competitive edge,” said David Eareckson, the firm’s vice president of Land Development Services. “Providing the most reliable data possible increases productivity, enhances safety, shortens project time and it is more cost-effective for our clients. This technology is so precise that Matrix can capture the shape and size of a structure or an object down to less than a millimeter.”

As a national firm, Matrix is often called upon to create 3D models for a wide variety of projects and applications, including utility companies that require precise mapping to install or reconnect services.

Matrix, for example, is one of the only engineering firms in the nation to have performed high-definition surveying (HDS) for the interior spaces of the Statue of Liberty, enabling the project team to verify dimensions and finalize renovations to the lady of the harbor.

Similar technology was used to create a detailed 3D model of the existing Morristown Medical Center main physical plant, where this New Jersey-based hospital was designing and installing a new boiler and chiller units.

HDS proved invaluable when Matrix was called upon to design an accurate replacement for the Route 1 bridge over Interstate 98 in Stamford, Conn., that could be built offsite and installed on the existing bridge plates and abutments.

Similarly, Matrix was recently hired to do high-density scans of a deteriorating mid-rise North Jersey office building. “We created a full, three-dimensional model of the building so its concrete panels could be replaced,” Eareckson said. “The panels were made offsite, shipped to the building and, because they were built based on a full-scale model, they fit perfectly. This technology helped save much time and money.

“On another urban project, we were called in because a building was to be demolished,” Eareckson said. “Our focus was to verify that the building next door did not shift during the demolition or construction. So, we scanned the building prior to demolition and kept scanning during the work to prove there was no movement.”

Matrix expects that its 3D work will steadily increase in 2017, as the firm signs on as a subcontractor on major infrastructure projects in the New York metropolitan area and elsewhere around the country.

Eareckson marvels at the flexibility and growing applications for this technology. “We had a client who custom-built an industrial sand separator in an old factory,” Eareckson recalled. “The machine, due to its ingenious construction, worked perfectly. We scanned the machine to create models of each hand-built part. From our models, another sand separator is now being constructed in the Gulf region. They just sent our models to manufacturers who can now easily replicate each part,” he said.

Matrix is also able to use the technology to model subways and building interiors. It provides invaluable information for architects, who can create designs with the specific knowledge of all interior dimensions, including the position of doors, windows, ducts, fans, pipes, and utility conduits.

“Based on our model, an architect is able to ensure a proposed redesign fits inside the existing space,” Eareckson said.